Fighting 911’s ‘Tragic’ Omission from Interoperability Called Political Dynamite
SAN JOSE -- It’s “tragic” that 911 is left out of efforts for interoperable emergency communications -- but one such bid ignited a “firestorm” showing the explosive potential of moves to redirect govt. money first responders want, said panelists at a Homeland Defense Journal conference here. “Current policies don’t consider 911 a critical component of public-safety interoperability,” said Evelyn Bailey of L. Robert Bailey & Assoc. consulting.
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911 calls alerted emergency agencies to the 9/11 attacks, the spur to interoperability efforts, Bailey said: “How can we not include 911 in conversations about interoperability and homeland security? To me, it’s just a huge disconnect that is going to cost us in the long run… It’s really tragic.”
Stings the Senate Commerce Committee felt last year show why, said Greg Rohde, E9-1-1 Institute exec. dir., lobbyist and former NTIA head. The committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Nelson (D-Fla.) to HR-5252, to add 911 as a beneficiary of a $1 billion NTIA fund for public-safety interoperability (CD Sept 15 p1). The change prompted safety agencies to set off a “firestorm” of protest, Rohde said; the bill never got to the floor. “Money always evokes emotion, and public safety is no exception,” said Next Generation 911 (NG911) project coordinator Jenny Hansen of the Dept. of Transportation.
U.S. agencies meet tomorrow (Tues.) on NG911, Hansen said: “The left hand is really going to talk to the right hand.” The Dept. of Homeland Security alone has at least 5 projects that could affect the effort, she said. The event’s aims to identify “possible collaborative opportunities,” and at least link agencies with interested parties Hansen has met on a year-long U.S. tour, she said. In April, her department will host a workshop to coordinate standards body efforts on emergency communications, which will advance NG911 work, said Hansen. IEEE and ATIS are among groups that will participate.
NG911 work seeks a system able to: handle voice, data and video messages from any device to any public safety answering point (PSAP) or public safety agency; to create “a ubiquitous architecture that could become a backup for anyone” whose communications are impaired in an emergency; and to allow PSAPs “plug & play” participation instead of requiring “forklift tradeouts of equipment,” Hansen said. The system “will require new response protocols and standards” to allow 911 to remain local amid a new national Internet protocol (IP) environment, she said.
But many local “service providers are absolutely going to resist next-generation initiatives,” Bailey said, noting that this phenomenon has occurred in every move around the country. It’s rooted in “the fear of the unknown, or the fear of lost revenue perhaps,” Bailey said. But it “doesn’t have to be that way,” she said.
Congress was wrong to authorize but not appropriate $250 million for a 911 coordination office in the Transportation Dept., A past president of the National Emergency Number Assn. said. “That’s like winning the Lotto and being told you can’t have the money,” said Bill McMurray, communications mgr. with the Marin County (Cal.) sheriff’s safety communications center. It’s not just the money, needed in a system that’s inconsistently and inadequately financed, he said. Federal leadership is crucial, McMurray said: “There’s nobody in charge of 911.”
The next stage in 911’s evolution is moving to all-IP communications, McMurray said. That would allow messages from the public to move among agencies as easily as communications among themselves, he said.